Historical Organization
Democratic Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea
Details
Organization Timeline
Khmer Rouge forces take Phnom Penh
📅 17 April 1975The Khmer Rouge captured the capital after years of civil war and U.S. bombing. Cambodian people faced forced evacuation and a radical regime; Soviet policy and support for other Cambodian factions...
Khmer Rouge enters Phnom Penh and empties the city
📅 17 April 1975Khmer Rouge forces took the capital and ordered residents to leave, beginning a nationwide forced evacuation. The resulting displacement, labor regime, executions, and famine formed part of the...
Khmer Rouge forces seize the U.S. ship Mayaguez
📅 12 May 1975Cambodian forces seized the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez and its crew in the Gulf of Thailand. The U.S. military rescue operation that followed came days after Saigon’s fall and showed how conflict...
Vietnam launches a full-scale invasion of Democratic Kampuchea
📅 25 December 1978Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia after years of border violence and Khmer Rouge attacks. The intervention overthrew the Democratic Kampuchea government in January 1979, ending its genocidal rule,...
Vietnamese forces launch a major offensive into Cambodia
📅 25 December 1978Vietnamese forces crossed into Cambodia amid escalating border attacks by the Khmer Rouge. The intervention ended Khmer Rouge rule in Phnom Penh but became a long occupation and a new conflict;...